Natural Heritage Information Centre

General Element Report: Elaphe obsoleta

Scientific Name: Elaphe obsoleta Common Name: Eastern Ratsnake Authority: (Dumeril, Bibron and Dumeril, 1854)

Family Name: COLUBRIDAE Family Number: 6

Tracked: Y Code: RASN Coefficient of Wetness:

Introduced: No Slide: Y Coeff. of Conservatism

NRVIS ID: 180765 Updated: 2004-10-04

Ranking Information

GNAME: Elaphe obsoleta		GRANK: G5	GRANK DATE: 1996-10-29
NRANK: N3	COSEWIC:	MNR Status:	SRANK: S3
Ontario General Status: AT RISK		Ontario General Status Date: 01-Nov-99
Notes: Previous Sname was Elaphe spiloides, Central Ratsnake (Oldham 2004), following Crother et al. (2003). However, as this name change has not been widely adopted (e.g. not used by NatureServe, COSEWIC (May 2004 list), or OMNR (SARO list, Oct. 2004), we have reverted back to the more familiar Elaphe obsoleta.

Rank History

Rank Type	Old Rank	Old Rank Date	Date Changed	Reason Changed	Changed By

EO Totals

Total EOs	A	B	C	D	E	F	H	X	None
84	0	6	16	33	1	0	18	10	0

References

79763	Andrews, S. 2002. Black Rat Snake Stories.. The Blue Bill 49(1):2-4.
79657	Blouin-Demers, G. and P. J. Weatherhead. 2000. A novel association between a beetle and a snake: Parasitism of Elaphe obsoleta by Nicrophorus pustulatus. Ecoscience. 7 (4):395-397.
79752	Blouin-Demers, G. and P. J. Weatherhead. 2001. An experimental test of the link between foraging, habitat selection and thermoregulation in black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta). Uncorrected proof. Journal of Animal Ecology 70:000-000. 8 pp.
80774	Blouin-Demers, G. and P.J. Weatherhead. 2001. Habitat use by Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) in fragmented forests. Ecology, 82(10):2882-2896.
80773	Blouin-Demers, G. and P.J. Weatherhead. 2001. Thermal ecology of Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta) in a thermally challenging environment. Ecology, 82(11):3025-3043.
80785	Blouin-Demers, G. and P.J. Weatherhead. 2002. Implications of movement patterns for gene flow in black rat snakes (Elape obsoleta). Canadian Journal of Zoology, 80:1162-1472.
79659	Blouin-Demers, G., K. A. Prior and P. J. Weatherhead. 2002. Comparative demography of black rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta) in Ontario and Maryland. Journal of Zoology, London. 256:1-10.
78376	Blouin-Demers, G., Prior, K.A., Weatherhead, P.J. 2000. Patterns of Variation in Spring Emergence By Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta). Herpetologica 56(2):175-188.
78954	Blouin-Demers, Gabriel, Kelley J. Kissner and Patrick J. Weatherhead. 2000. Plasticity in Preferred Body Termperature of Young Snakes in Response to Temperature During Development. Copeia no. 3 pp. 841-845.
78851	Burbrink, F.T. 2001. Systematics of the eastern rat snake complex (Elaphe obsoleta). Herpetological Monographs 15:1-53.
78850	Burbrink, F.T., R. Lawson, and J.B. Slowinski. 2000. Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of the polytypic North American rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta): a critique of the subspecies concept. Evolution 54(6):2107-2118.
80557	Crother, B.I., J. Boundy, J.A. Campbell, K. de Quieroz, D. Frost, D.M. Green, R. Highton, J.B. Iverson, R.W. McDairmid, P.A. Meylan, T.W. Reeder, M.E. Seidel, J.W. Sites, Jr., S.G. Tilley, and D.B. Wake. 2003. Scientific and standard English names of amphibians and reptiles of North America north of Mexico: update. Herpetological Review 34(3):196-203.
78897	Hammerson, G. 2001. EO Specs for Medium and Large Colubrid Snakes (ELCODE ARADB00002). NatureServe, unpublished. 2 pp.
79656	Kissner, K. J., G. Blouin-Demers and P. J. Weatherhead. 2000. Sexual dimorphism in malodorousness of musk secretions of snakes. Journal of Herpetology. 34:491-493.
78369	Lougheed, S.C., Gibbs, H.L., Prior, K.A., Weatherhead, P.J. 1995. Hierarchical Patterns of Genetic Population Structure in Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) As Revealed By Microsatellite DNA Analysis. Evolution 53(6): 1995-2001.
78028	Oldham, M.J. 1997. COSSARO Candidate V,T,E Species Evaluation Form for Black Rat Snake. Unpublished report prepared by Natural Heritage Information Centre for Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 3 pp.
77625	Oldham, M.J. 1998. COSSARO Candidate V,T,E Species Evaluation Form - June 1998 Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta). Natural Heritage Information Centre and COSSARO. 5 pp.
80864	Oldham, M.J. 2004. What's in a name? Changes to the provincial amphibian and reptile lists. Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre Newsletter 9(1):16-18.
79658	Prior, K. A., G. Blouin-Demers and P. J. Weatherhead. 2001. Sampling biases in demographic analysis of Black Rat snakes (Elaphe obsoleta). Herpetologica, 57(4):460-469.
79754	Prior, K., G. Blouin-Demers,and P. J. Weatherhead. 2001. Sampling biases in demographic analyses of Black Rat Snakes (Elaphe obsoleta). Herpetologica 57(4):460-469.
80888	Solomon, L. 2003. South Eastern Zone. Summary Report: Black Ratsnake Hibernacula Monitoring. Ontario Parks South East Zone, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 13pp + appendices.
80771	Utiger, U., N. Helfenberger, B. Schatti, C. Schmidt, M. Ruf, and V. Ziswiler. 2002. Molecular systematics and phylogeny of Old and New World ratsnakes, Elaphe Auct., and related genera (Reptilia, Squamata, Colubridae). Russian Journal of Herpetology 9(2):105-124.
80784	Weatherhead, P.J., G. Blouin-Demers and K.A. Prior. 2002. Synchronous varition and long-term trends in two populations of Black Rat Snakes. Conservation Biology, 16(6):1602-1608.
80700	Weatherhead, P.J., G. Blouin-Demers and K.M. Cavey. 2003. Seasonal and Prey-size dietary patterns of Black Ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta). American Midland Naturalist 150:275-281.